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Wellington house prices hit record median of $613,000

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Press Release – REINZ
Vendors from around the country have been delivered an early Christmas present with record median prices achieved in six regions and another record median price set for the country in November, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), source of the most complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand.

The national median house price in November for residential properties was a record $575,000 up 6.5% from $540,000 at the same time last year. For New Zealand excluding Auckland, the median house price was a record $485,000 up 7.8% from $450,000 in November 2017.

Auckland’s median house price dropped -1.5% to $867,000, down from $880,000 in November 2017, but was up from last month by 0.3%.

Additionally, six regions achieved a record price during November including:

• Wellington: +11.5% to $613,000 (up from $550,000 at the same time last year)

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at REINZ says: “For two months in a row now we’ve seen record median prices set for New Zealand driven by extremely strong growth in some of the regions where demand for good properties continues to outstrip supply.

“In fact, prices rose annually in 14 out of 16 regions around the country – the only exceptions were Auckland (-1.5%) and Canterbury (-3.3%). Of those 14 regions experiencing annual increases, 7 of them saw double digit increases showing the strength of the market,” continues Norwell.

“While these record median prices will be a great early Christmas present for vendors selling their homes, they make hard reading for those first time buyers who are desperately saving to get onto the property market. However, with the likes of KiwiBuild and models such as BNZ’s shared-ownership scheme there is some light at the end of the tunnel for those first home buyers feeling locked out of the property market,” she continues.

“Looking at the Auckland market, there were some areas that achieved strong prices during November including Auckland City’s median price of $999,000 the highest price in 17 months, Franklin District saw the highest median price in 6 months of $700,000 and North Shore City had the highest median price in 8 months ($1,041,000). However, on the flip side, the Rodney District saw a year-on-year decrease of -11.3% and Manukau City had an annual fall of -2.2%” points out Norwell.

Good finish to spring, with volumes up 2.6% nationally

The number of houses sold across the country increased by 2.6% year-on-year to 7,286 up from 7,102 (an additional 184 houses).

For New Zealand excluding Auckland, the number of properties sold increased by 2.1% – 108 more properties when compared to November 2017 (from 5,139 to 5,247).

In Auckland, the number of properties sold increased by 3.9% or 76 more properties, from 1,963 in November 2017 to 2,039 in November 2018.

Regions with the largest annual increases in sales volumes were:

• Gisborne: +39.3% (from 61 to 85 – an additional 24 houses)
• West Coast: +28.6% (from 28 to 36 – an additional 8 houses)
• Bay of Plenty: +17.4% (from 454 to 533 – an additional 79 houses)
• Marlborough: +12.0% (from 83 to 93 – an additional 10 houses).
“November represented another strong month of property sales, with annual increases in volumes in 10 out of 16 regions, and from a national perspective, November saw the highest volume of sales across the country in six months,” says Norwell.

“There were some standout results for a couple of the regions with Gisborne’s sales the highest number of properties sold in one month for 12 years and Taranaki’s sales the highest number of properties sold in a month since March 2007 showing the buoyancy in some of these popular regions,” continues Norwell.

“However, there were some areas that had a slower end to spring with volumes down year-on-year including Nelson (-22.3%), Canterbury (-6.9%), Southland (-5.3%), Otago (-4.5%) and Wellington (-1.2%),” concludes Norwell.

REINZ House Price Index (HPI)

The REINZ House Price Index for New Zealand, which measures the changing value of property in the market, increased 3.5% year-on-year to 2,758 a new record high for the country.

The HPI for New Zealand excluding Auckland increased 7.6% from November 2017 to a new record high of 2,663. The Auckland HPI decreased -0.6% year-on-year to 2,873.

The REINZ HPI again saw 11 out of 12 regions experience an increase over the past 12 months, highlighting the continued strength of the property market. The only exception was Auckland.

In November the Manawatu/Wanganui region again had the highest annual growth rate, a 16.4% increase to a new record high of 2,853, followed by Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay in second place with an annual growth rate of 12.4% to a new record high of 2,633 and in third place was Otago with an 11.6% annual increase to a new record high of 2,823.

Interestingly, Waikato’s index level of 2,879 (a 6.7% increase since November last year) has now overtaken Auckland’s index level of 2,873 – the first time Auckland’s index level has been overtaken since March 2015.

Days to Sell

The median number of days to sell a property nationally increased by 2 days from 33 to 35 when compared to November last year.

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